PetrolCB Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Also, Bret/Steamboat vs Jericho at WM XXV would've been way better than what we ended up with. Not that I'm putting down the Dragon's time in that match, but Snuka and Piper were useless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 The biggest crime that came out of Bret leaving was how much great wrestling we lost. When I wrote that post, I had a perpetual sense of "this would've rocked." It's even the small things that would've been fun. For example, Backlash 04 was in Edmonton. Could you imagine Bret vs. Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship in Edmonton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Benoit essentially got pushed beyond the midcard in WCW due to the Owen tribute match. Bret never goes there. Owen probably never dies. Benoit's still in WCW doing nothing of note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 I think Benoit still jumps when Sullivan becomes head booker. Bret and Owen being in the WWF would probably make it more likely. The bigger WCW 2000 question is: Does Lance Storm go to WCW or does Bret get signed by the WWF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E.J. Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 What if Cena never makes it past the midcard? Who takes his spot? Does he inevitably get released and go to TNA? Do we see WWE title runs for Rey, Christian and Edge a lot earlier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Apparently, Cena was close to being released before Stephanie overheard him freestyle rapping in late 02. I think if he gets released in early 2003, he goes to TNA, finds his groove and eventually ends up back in WWE by 06-07. He gets a token championship run. I think Randy Orton ends up being the pushed one. They probably bear down harder on his face run in mid-late 2004. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 if he'd have been released in 02 he'd have never rebounded. I'm talking a sub-Kennedy career. All this being said, no idea how JBL/Cena didn't headline Mania 21 considering how he's been the man ever since. The why of it is obviously politics (and a better build up) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Libs Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 At the time, Batista was allegedly seen as the next top-top guy too. Merchandise sales and demographic appeal, among other factors, changed things shortly after that show and Cena shot ahead, never to be caught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Hattrick Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Jeff Hardy? Especially if he would have somehow shocked the world and beat The Undertaker here. Oh, and that whole keeping his ass out of trouble in the future thing may help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biz Smarkie Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 That match right there is imo the best called match of JR's career .So awesome . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwoy2j Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 At the time, Batista was allegedly seen as the next top-top guy too. Merchandise sales and demographic appeal, among other factors, changed things shortly after that show and Cena shot ahead, never to be caught. Trips/Batista was definitely a bigger deal than Cena/JBL at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 At the time, Batista was allegedly seen as the next top-top guy too. Merchandise sales and demographic appeal, among other factors, changed things shortly after that show and Cena shot ahead, never to be caught. Trips/Batista was definitely a bigger deal than Cena/JBL at that point. Yeah don't forget JBL/Cena was for the Smackdown title. RAW always takes the A spot over Smackdown. As for Benoit. there's a lot of interesting what if's for him. Assume Bret never went to WCW and Owen didn't die cause Bret would have stopped the stunt. No Owen tribute match. Would Benoit still be alive today if he was stuck at the upper mid card level and never broke through to being World Champion? I can see him making it the WWF for a few years and eventually leaving in 2005ish. Probably goes back to Japan or dare I say ROH. Benoit vs. Joe would have been fun around the time Joe was wrestling Kenta and Misiwa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 The Owen Tribute Match literally happened a couple of months before he left. It was a good match but I highly doubt it caused a shift in thought about Benoit. People already knew he could work and he was already over in WCW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeeball Wizard Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 What if triple threat matches had become a viable match type earlier on? I know some people loathe them and I feel like they're kind of hit or miss, but the idea of a Savage/Hogan/Warrior triple threat in 1991 is really intriguing to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 The Owen Tribute Match literally happened a couple of months before he left. It was a good match but I highly doubt it caused a shift in thought about Benoit. People already knew he could work and he was already over in WCW. He was midcard at best at the time, after that, became prominent in the main event scene with Sid, Goldberg, Bret and the Outsiders. He got his release and the no compete clause because of him being World champion at the time/Time Warner not wanting the lawsuit. If he's just another midcarder, they don't give him (possibly all of them) his release or such generous terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 He'd main evented a ppv before that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 He had also been in the Horsemen already and had just turned face by breaking out of The Revolution. Let's not forget that the guy was scheduled to face Jeff Jarrett for the United States Championship at Souled Out 2000. He wasn't regularly fighting for the World Title at the time. His push was pretty constant throughout 1999 and into 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerrillaMonsoon Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Uncensored 97? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I had this one pop into my head the other night after watching a bit of the Bockwinkel/Robinson match posted in the Omnibous thread. What if Nick Bockwinkle did the anti-NWO schitck that Larry Zbyszko did in WCW. Not so much as a commentator but they could have kept him as commissioner instead of putting a very bland babyface JJ Dillion in the spot. He would have been around 63 in 97 when Larry had the feud with Hall, Syxx, and Bischoff. We all know Nick kept himself in amazing shape and he still could very much go when he did that UWF-i exhibition with Billy Robinsion only a couple years earlier and the match with Dory Funk Jr. at Slamboree. As much as I like Larry, Nick Bockwinkle standing up for tradition would be so much more interesting since one he wouldn't resort to constantly calling the NWO the New World Oder. Doing the same same three matches with Syxx, Bischoff, and then Hall. Of course it was WCW so odds are things would have played out exactly as they did with Larry but at least we'd get some more Bockwinkel promos out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drshowtime Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 What if triple threat matches had become a viable match type earlier on? I know some people loathe them and I feel like they're kind of hit or miss, but the idea of a Savage/Hogan/Warrior triple threat in 1991 is really intriguing to me. The first one to come to mind was Yoko/Luger/Bret. Match would have been nothing but that story really needed some kind of Bret/Luger match even if it was Yoko interference for a double DQ or a 3 way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolCB Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 If Shawn Michaels never had the first half of his career, would that second run be enough to still consider him to be one the greatest and still HoF worthy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivpvideos Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Flair/Savage/Warrior would have happened at Summerslam 1992 and it would have been fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 If Shawn Michaels never had the first half of his career, would that second run be enough to still consider him to be one the greatest and still HoF worthy? No. Mostly because he was generally fucking awful during the 21st century, outside of about half a dozen matches. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebbie Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Honestly, the most entertaining thing HBK has done was randomly superkick people backstage. It was only for like 30 seconds, but I remember it for some reason. That or the "Tell Me a Lie" video for it's awesome pro wrestling cheesiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Honestly, the most entertaining thing HBK has done was randomly superkick people backstage. It was only for like 30 seconds, but I remember it for some reason. That or the "Tell Me a Lie" video for it's awesome pro wrestling cheesiness. I never really cared for solo Shawn Michaels. I'd much rather watch a Rockers match than a Shawn singles match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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